MP Holiday Watch Results
Two months ago, 38 Degrees members contacted their MPs to ask them about their plans for their three-month break from Parliament over summer. The first wave of results are now in.
Find out whether your MP took part and what they had to say about their plans. Once you've looked into their answer, you can use our speak out tool to get in touch with them again, to ask more questions, tell them your views or ask them why they haven't taken part.
General findings
- Respondents claim to spend by far the greatest amount of the recess period in their constituency, averaging just over 8 weeks, split between casework and visits/ surgeries. By comparison, they spend an average of just over 1.5 weeks in Westminster and just over 2.5 weeks elsewhere (including holidays).
- 28 of 42 respondents indicated they will be taking 2 weeks or less in holiday.
- 36 of 42 respondents intend to spend 2 weeks or less in Westminster.
- Many respondents mention attending Party Conference – it’s safe to assume this applies to nearly all respondents from a major political party.
- On average, Lib Dem respondents intended to spend just over one extra week at their constituency than Conservative respondents and just under one extra week than Labour respondents.
Paid work
- Only 6 of 42 respondents admitted to undertaking any other paid work, including freelance journalism and consultancy work.
- The most time spent on other paid work was 3-4 days. Where completed, all other respondents indicated 1 day or less in total.
Voluntary work
- Over half of respondent (24 of 42) intended to do some voluntary work over the summer recess.
- Length of time ranges from 1 to 20 days, but mainly falls within 1-7 days.
- Popular volunteering activities include sporting fundraiser events, church-related work, and acting as a trustee.
- Examples:
- "Volunteering in Salisbury Cathedral." (Robert Key, Conservative, Salisbury)
- "Helping young people with career choices." (Andrew Selous, Conservative, South West Bedfordshire)
- "I help out at a local Scout group." (Andrew Gwynne, Labour, Denton and Reddish)
- "Training and running the Glasgow half-marathon in aid of The Pebble Appeal, a campaign to raise £10 million for a new cancer research facility in my constituency." (Jo Swinson, Lib Dem, East Dunbartonshire)
Views on recess
- 18 of 42 believe the summer recess is too long. Popular recommendations for reform including drastically shortening it, spreading the recess more evenly across the year, and returning to Westminster for at least part of September.
- The most popular argument among respondents for the benefits of a long recess that it allows more time for constituency (16 of 42).
- A secondary argument in favour of recess is that it allows time for reading and research.
Reading
- From the global warming to Nazis, equality to ethnic cleansing, MPs reading material this summer errs on the serious side. A large number of respondents did mention that recess allows them the time to catch up on research and reading.
- Here are some highlights:
- "An Appeal to Reason: A Cool Look at Global Warning" by Nigel Lawson (Philip Davies, Conservative, Shipley)
- "The Resistance: the French Fight against the Nazis" by Matthew Cobb (Robert Key, Conservative, Salisbury)
- "Ascent: The Mountains of the Tour De France" by Richard Yates (Alistair Burt, Conservative, North East Bedfordshire)
- "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" by Professor Ian Pappe (Martin Linton, Labour, Battersea, Balham & Wandsworth)
- "The Spirit Level: Why more equal societies almost always do better" by Richard Wilkinson (Norman Lamb, Lib Dem, North Norfolk)
- Wilbur Smith (John Leech, Lib Dem, Manchester Withington)
